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The Oxford Business Group on 21st July 2011 had this report on Brunei. This is based on a report issued by the IMF which you can read here.

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Brunei Darussalam: Economy on the rebound

Brunei Darussalam’s economy has been given a clean bill of health by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with the agency praising the prudent economic management exercised by local authorities, as well as the efforts to reform and liberalise the financial sector and reduce the dependence on oil and gas as the nation’s main revenue earners. The Fund and other analysts have also said more still needs to be done to foster private sector development and improve the overall business environment.

In its latest report on the Sultanate, released in mid-June, the IMF said that many of the key economic indicators were performing well, with GDP rebounding in 2010 after two years of decline, the country’s current account surplus also well into the black and inflation under control.

Last year, same opponent, same venue, same cup, same final. MOD lost. It was a sad day.

Last night, MOD won. It was a happy day.

Congratulations to the Ministry of Development Football Team for winning against the Ministry of Home Affairs. To be honest, I was not raising my expectation very high. If MOD had lost, I was already expecting it. But with MOD winning, the jubilation was much higher!

For those who did not watch the game, it was 0-0 at half time. Just after the second half, MOD took the lead but almost immediately MOHA equalised. MOHA had one chance to open up the lead but they messed up the penalty kick. Towards the end, it was MOD's turn to mess up the penalty. So it was 1-1 and remained 1-1 after extra time. During penalties, MOD missed one and saved one, making it 4-4 on penalties. Then it was 5-5 but on the seventh kick, MOD scored 6-5. The last MOHA player decided to play rugby and kicked the ball into the stratosphere. Eruption time for MOD spectators!

[I wanted to write about His Majesty's Birthday but I have written a few articles already in the past. So rather than repeating myself, I thought I will write something about July itself and its significance for Brunei. There was another important date that happened in July but nobody remembered that anymore. Anway, I wrote this article and it was published on Monday 18th July 2011 on The Brunei Times in my Golden Legacy column.]

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Significance of July for Bruneiby Rozan Yunos

JULY 15 is a date that all Brunei citizens and residents remember. July 15, 1946, is the date of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam's Birthday and therefore the annual celebrations of the birthday. The recent 65th birthday celebrations were equally grand to all the others before it. Thousands of citizens thronged to the Taman Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien to watch the annual birthday parade as well as to wish their loyalty and app…

Yesterday, on the occasion of His Majesty's 65th Birthday, he awarded these lucky people with a birthday gift. All end up with a nice little medal, however some get to carry new title to their names and some do not. For those who did not, there will be other occasions. I tried to be more descriptive as to the new title that the recipients will be getting as well as who they are. I don't know all of them but those I do know are here. Congratulations to everyone:-

It's His Majesty The Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam's 65th Birthday today. And what better way to celebrate the 65th birthday?

Yes, a $65 miniature sheet which consisted of the highest ever face value for a Brunei stamp - $65! Size wise, the $65 stamp itself is probably the biggest size stamp that has been produced by Brunei.

In its 116 year of history, the Brunei postal authorities highest value stamp before this was a $60 stamp which was in commemoration of His Majesty's 60th Birthday. That has now been superseded. However it has to be noted that the 50th Birthday Miniature Sheet had 5 $50 stamp making that worth $250, thus making that the highest value for a miniature sheet.

If you can't afford the $65 stamp, don't worry. The postal authorities have the much cheaper miniature sheet containing all 6 of 65 cents each stamp.

Or you can always get the first day cover with all 6 of the 65 cents stamps.

Back in April 1976, I found myself in a Singapore classroom courtesy of the government's scholarship program. I had undergone about three months of secondary education in Berakas English School before that. When I arrived in Singapore, the classes were getting ready for the mid-year exam in May. The classes were revising their lessons. That was when I discovered there were indeed differences between the syllabus of the two education system. In most cases we coped but some I learnt the hard way. In Brunei, we were learning 'modern' maths but in Singapore, they concentrated on the traditional maths. The 'modern' maths was more like playing with maths and apparently was another experiment. However that 'modern' maths did not teach me what the formula for the area in a circle, all I heard was five r squared. Eventually I learnt five was not five but 'pi' and r was the radius. That 'pi' was versatile but difficult to pin down in exact value.

The Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS) is currently undertaking a research study to understand employment issues among university graduates. The study focuses on three groups of graduates – (i) employed; (ii) unemployed; and (iii) under-employed (i.e. those currently working but feel that their jobs are unsuitable).

CSPS encourages all university graduates, from local and overseas, Bachelor’s degree to PhD level, to fill in an online survey, which can be accessed via CSPS’ website, www.csps.org.bn, or CSPS’ Facebook page, www.facebook.com/csps.brunei

The survey will only take ten minutes to complete. Participate now and make a difference for your own future!

I was rewriting my 2007 article on memukun the other day and I asked all my colleagues what their recollection about it was. One of my colleague, who has retired from the government and I met him at one of my niece's wedding function recently strumming a guitar(!), kindly wrote me the following recollection. Since he spent sometime doing it, to do justice to him, I thought I will reproduce it and he has given me permission but he asked to remain anonymous.

I saw this release by the Philippines Information Agency. The only thing that struck me was, WOW! we will be able to drive in Palawan with our own cars should this RO-RO connection to Port of Brooke's Point in Southern Palawan was ever to take off connecting Muara to Labuan and to Palawan.

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, 30 June (PIA) –- The port of Brooke’s Point in southern Palawan is set for Roll on-Roll off (RO-RO) connection with the ports of Labuan in Sabah and Muara Port in Brunei Darussalam.

This was announced in the plenary meeting of 8th Transport, Infrastructure, and ICT (TIICT) Development Cluster meeting held recently at Hotel Centro in Puerto Princesa City recently. The implementation of the project is waiting for the harmonization of CIQS rules for the Labuan and Muara routes.

The completion of this RO-RO connection would further boost interconnectivity within the sub-region and enhance the sub-region…

On 29th June 2011, The Oxford Business Group reported the following about Brunei:

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Brunei Darussalam: Promoting takaful

The Sultanate’s sharia-compliant insurance sector is looking to expand its market share, stepping up efforts to promote takaful products and increase the range of policies on offer, with the sector likely to see greater segmentation as a result.

The sharia-compliant insurance sector is tightly regulated, with Takaful Order 2008 being the central document setting out the terms and conditions under which the industry operates. Issued in October 2008 and coming into force the following month, the order codified takaful operations, ensuring that the industry as a whole was based on a firm foundation and that, just as importantly, its products and activities met the requirements of sharia law.

To guarantee this, Takaful Order 2008 mandates that any product to be offered by a service provider has to be assessed and approved by the Sharia Financial Supervisory Board before …